Post navigation

My last day of work was December 21. I had been planning for this day for two years and its arrival seemed anti-climatic. Nonetheless I cherished the moment and looked forward to many good days ahead. Christmas was around the corner and we hosted the annual Christmas Eve dinner. Twenty Two of us celebrated and …Continue reading →

One of the joys (and expenses) of boat ownership is that new technology is always arriving on the scene. This technology can be as simple as a new Ipad mount or as complicated and sophisticated as touch screen plotters and radar. The later is what brought me back to Big Smile for five days this …Continue reading →

While not a boat related post we did just spend eight great days on or near the water in Oregon and Washington. Reason for the trip was to attend a wedding in Gearhart, Oregon. Where is Gearhart? That’s what we asked ourselves when we received the invitation from Peter and Shannon. Peter is the son …Continue reading →

It has been well over a month since we returned from the Bahamas and drove back home to NJ. Since our return we spent most weekends at Lake George and had the pleasure of having my Aunt, Uncle and cousin with family renting down the road for a week. We transitioned from big, heavy, slow …Continue reading →

For the first time in my career I took three consecutive weeks off. We knew we needed and wanted to take a shake down cruise and decided that early June would work. So we packed up our newly purchased kayaks into our pickup truck and once again drove to Ft Pierce FL. It is a …Continue reading →

April 24 had us on an early flight to West Palm Beach. It had been years since we flew into West Palm and we quickly remembered how convenient it is compared to the mess at Laguardia. The purpose of this trip was to complete our insurance mandated training on board Big Smile. Coincidently we were …Continue reading →

We flew down to Ft Lauderdale Friday April 30th and arrived at Apex Marine at 6PM. Our car was in the marina lot where we left it. Cath had not experienced living “on the hard” so the weekend would be interesting. The forecast called for temps in the 80’s. The AC only works if we …Continue reading →

March 15th I took a 6AM flight to Ft Lauderdale and made it to the boat by 10AM. Spent two hours going through the survey list with Richard and everything had been done. Between Richard, Apex Marine and a couple of sub contractors a two page list was completed in two weeks. A call to …Continue reading →

Our next trip to Florida would be by car. It’s been 33 years since I last drove down and that was senior week in college. Different experience this time although the same road. We left Friday early Friday morning and made it to Santee, South Carolina by dinnertime. Up early the next day and with …Continue reading →

January 30th had us flying to Florida for Trawlerfest in Ft Lauderdale. We had traded a time share and were staying in Weston Fl, 1/2 hour west of the show. On Tuesday we decide to drive all the way to Key West. I had not been there since around 1980. It was a long drive, …Continue reading →